Time’s Teeth, it washerface. The Timekeeper who’d given me the chronobank and the royal decree, who’d put me on that carriage that day and told me I’d be going home, and thatsoon everything would make sense.
It was the same face—almost identical. Her eyes had been blue, and the stubble hid the shape of this man’s jaw, but it was the same face.
I stepped forward, not entirely sure what to expect, but he’d looked at me for that second. He’d looked at me, and that had to meansomething.
“C-C-Calren?” My voice shook, but the name made it out.
The entire room held their breath when the Timekeeper turned those dark brown eyes toward me once more. Paused,and for that fraction of a second, I could have sworn he was…himself.
Which wasn’tthis.
Whatever he’d become, whatever he became again before my heart completed a beat, it wasn’t him.
“Through,” he whispered again, and then he moved.
He ran, and he slammed his shoulder right into the wall while we screamed and gasped and covered our faces. March was there to pull me back again, and he and Seth grabbed the Timekeeper by the arms before he could slam himself onto the wall a second time.
“Don’t let go, don’t let go!” someone shouted, and I was shaking from head to toe, but not with fear. Iwasn’tafraid of this man, and that alone was madness.
“Just hold on—stop slamming onto the wall—what are you doing?!” Mimi was shouting, getting in front of him with both her hands raised.
“Late,”the Timekeeper rasped. “Late, Mim-Mim,late.”
Just like that, Mimi froze. She froze, became as still as the wall behind her, and to look at her face, you’d think she saw a ghost.
“How…how do you know that name?” she breathed, stepped back, shook her head. “My…my sister calls me that. How do you know that name?”
Of course, the Timekeeper had no answer. He just went back to trying to free himself from the boys’ grip with all his energy—which was fascinating to me all on its own.
Wherewas he getting that energy? And how long exactly had he been down here?
“Calren, look at me,” I said, and nowIwas in front of him, too.
“Ora, don’t,” March said through gritted teeth, but I really wasn’t afraid of him. I didn’t think he’d hurt me even if they hadn’t been holding him back.
“It’s okay. He’s in there somewhere. Calren, what are you doing?” I tried again, but the Timekeeper only had eyes for the wall. He looked right over my head like I wasn’t even there.
“We want tohelpyou,” said Erith as she came to stand beside me. “Just…just tell us what you’re doing.”
“Do you know Elida?”
“We saw her before.”
“Do you knowus?”
“How did you know her name?”
“Doyouhave the proof we’re looking for?”
Most of us were standing in front of him again, speaking together at the same time, and the Timekeeper was no longer trying to free himself from the boys. We talked, we asked him questions, we tried to make eye contact, and even though he sometimes looked our way, he didn’t reallyseeus, not the way he saw me just a few moments ago.
This man was awake, blinking and breathing and moving, but it didn’t look like anybody was home.
The boys let go of him eventually, stepped back. The others kept talking, kept asking questions.
“Just tell us, we can help you.” Cook.
“Are you trying to break free from this room? Because there’s nothing there, just a wall.” Anika.
